Hat Trick for Ford at Bathurst

It was three in a row for Ford and a case of history repeating itself for Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes who come from fifth on the grid to take out this year’s Bathurst 1000.

The result recalled memories of Lowndes’ friend and mentor the late Peter Brock taking triple victories in the ’70s and ’80s, but was said to me even more impressive in this era of tougher more competitive racing.

“We just set history. Three years in a row. It’s crazy,” Lowndes said. “You cannot dream of it. For us it’s just been a really clean weekend.”

Runners-up Greg Murphy and Jason Richards in a Holden Commodore were followed by James Courtney and David Besnard who overcame tyre issues to take third place.

Both HRT (Holden Racing Team) cars failed to finish, while Mark Winterbottom and Steve Richards came in fourth with Richards blaming tyres for the result.

With attendance figures for the four-day crowd at 187,000 the legendary event has now been put to bed for another year. With four rounds to go the Championship Board reads as follows: